Online Gambling Regulation Problems in Lithuania and the European Union

Aušrinė Pasvenskienė

Abstract

In many European countries, the market for gambling has grown quite significantly in the last decade. This has mainly been online gambling and the resulting opportunity to play internationally. In Lithuania, online gambling is prohibited; however, it is rapidly gaining popularity and is available for Lithuanian players. Thus, it is clear that gambling services in Lithuania are not regulated enough. In the first part of the article, a brief overview of the legislation regulating gambling activities in Lithuania is given. The second part of the article deals with an analysis of the access of Lithuanian players to online gambling; attention is drawn to the problem of taxation—international online gambling companies do not pay taxes to the Lithuanian budget. The second part also includes a discussion of online gambling regulatory alternatives, their positive and negative aspects. In the third part of the article, the author analyses how online gambling activity is regulated in other European Union (EU) countries.